#364 Kingdom: The Absolutes
Mat 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.
Mat 21:43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.
Mat 16:28 "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
One of the greatest losses the church has experienced since Pentecost has been the loss of the Kingdom. Not that the Kingdom is lost to the church potentially but after she lost the Kingdom experientially and the message of the Kingdom as a present reality! She has lost the hope, the anticipation and the experience of the Kingdom in daily life and practice. She also lost the discipline and Government of the Kingdom as a personal experience.
Act 1:6 And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"
The church has made exactly the same mistake the disciples made. They thought the Kingdom was assigned to Israel and that it would be an ethnic, local, military, political, social, earthly government and a kingdom like others of this world.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."
This Word seems very clear and straight forward and not too difficult to understand, even by the natural / unspiritual man. The problem seems to be that some theologian long ago was looking for the outward signs of the Kingdom on this earth and saw none. It was clear that the lion was NOT laying down with the lamb and the children were not playing with the snakes. Therefore, he reasoned that the Kingdom must have been postponed until the millennium. This was written in a Bible commentary [ Scofield] and since that time those that read the commentary assumed the Kingdom was postponed so any teaching of the Kingdom as present reality must be false doctrine.
This is what happens when we read what man says rather than study what God has said. Now this ignorance about the Kingdom has spread to much of the church. The influence of a few men has caused the church to lose the Kingdom. However, Jesus said the Kingdom would be given to those “producing the fruit of it.”
Mat 21:43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.
Ignorance of just a few scriptures has affected the whole church system for hundreds of years.
(KJVR) Like 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
During this church age the Kingdom is an INNER KINGDOM that functions within the New Inner Life of the New Creation Man. Therefore, if we just look for an outward, visible Kingdom we may assume that the Kingdom will not come until Jesus returns in visible form. To refute this strange doctrine that the Kingdom message today is false doctrine, I will list several facts concerning the Kingdom that are very clear to anyone who has eyes to see and a heart to understand. However, we can never convince someone about truth who refuses to see truth. The Kingdom is not yet visible to be seen in the outward realm but that doesn’t mean the Kingdom can’t function in the Inner Life of any person who will receive it like an innocent child and submit to its government and obey its Life!.
Jesus mentioned the Kingdom about 100 times during His 3 ½ year ministry. The Kingdom was His central message and what He did in healing, deliverance, and miracles demonstrated the Kingdom.
Luke 11:20 "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 4:43 But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose."
Everything He preached in some aspect was to reveal the Kingdom, either in a message or by demonstration or within His person. When you saw Jesus you saw the embodiment of the Kingdom in human form. His example is our own hope of revealing the INNER KINGDOM by outward manifestation and by that manifestation of the Kingdom demonstrate the “greater works” which Jesus said would be assigned to those who believe!
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Wherever Jesus was, the Kingdom was in their midst. Trying to preach the Kingdom without a valid, life changing government of the Kingdom within is not a valid “next dimension” ministry and NOT within the New Covenant dimension. It is AFTER the Kingdom becomes a reality in us that the Word Of The Kingdom can be released through us by the Spirit and the Word.
The Kingdom was within Jesus! Therefore, the Kingdom was “in the world” but NOT OF this world. The Kingdom is not seen in the outward realm except to those who have inner eyes that can see its manifestation in this outward dimension.
The Kingdom is by far the greatest need of modern man in the world today and therefore, the greatest need in the church today. To ignore this message and this eternal government as present reality within our inner life will have eternal consequences. Rather than reject the message of the Kingdom because of popular opinion, it is much better to search out the truth for oneself. Then surrender everything to this truth which is a basic way of entrance to its reality!
The fact is that the fragmented inner life of believers, the unredeemed portions of their life and the eternal goals of the average Christian can only really come together into total meaning when there is some fulfillment of the Kingdom Life and Government in the Inner Man. It is the Kingdom revelation in the Inner Man that gives total meaning to why we are here and reveals the essence of God’s eternal purpose for man.
This revelation of the Kingdom can only come to the New Creation Inner Man. Therefore, if the New Creation Man is still under-developed and just in the baby stage, the lack of revelation is easily understood. Unless one is born from above he cannot even see this realm because there is NO new inner man with spiritual eyes to see into this realm. Unfortunately, too many in the pulpit have neglected the growth and maturity of the Inner Man and therefore they reject the Gospel of the Kingdom as too difficult for the natural / unspiritual man.
We certainly do not deny that this is experientially true, however, God never designed the natural man to function within the Kingdom because it is of another realm.
The fact is this; a person may have several degrees and a doctorate in theology and he may still be “unspiritual” in the inner man. He may not have advanced any more in his spiritual life than a new believer. Therefore, a very learned natural man can easily conclude than the Kingdom is not for the church age but just for Israel during the Millennium reign of Christ upon this earth. Because he has earned titles and degrees many assume that everything he says is biblically sound.
Once we see that the Kingdom is God’s absolute from which all the functions in the church gain their validity, the Kingdom becomes the ultimate goal while the church becomes secondary. The church is NOT absolute but just relative and only has validity in the degree that it relates to the Kingdom as God’s absolute. Until the church acquires the characteristics and Life of the King and the Divine order of the Kingdom it will revolve around itself.
Mat 18:3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus was very bold and said “You MUST be born again to SEE the Kingdom!” He was speaking directly and decisively with eternal conviction. Today this way of preaching is not very popular. Why? Because no one is supposed to know about these things so most preaching about eternity is considered as speculation. Jesus spoke with absolute certainty. He didn’t bother to qualify his statements with it could be this way OR that way.
You must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the Kingdom. We may look at these things as church doctrines and associate them with certain denominations. Jesus directly associated these experiences with the Kingdom of God. What is the difference?
If we associate these experiences with the church then they will relate us to the church or a certain church. This only associates us with the church level. Jesus said “You must be converted and be as little children” in your approach to the Kingdom dimension. Why? Because everybody begins ignorant or unawares of this next realm of the Kingdom. We must be
converted” into this dimension.
Therefore, being converted in this realm is not “church related” at all but solely Kingdom related. This conversion” is NOT conditioned upon some church doctrine or belief system but supercedes it. Every church related “conversion” has certain limitations connected with it or we could say a “limited conversion.” With this “conversion” we can establish a certain date and look back to it with some finality.
On the other hand a Kingdom “conversion” is unlimited and continues of into other reams and dimensions until the final salvation or “conversion.” A “church conversion” become a poor substitute for the reality of a “Kingdom conversion” that open the way into the Kingdom dimension. Being “birthed” into the dimension of a certain church is a poor substitute for being birthed in the Kingdom dimension. The first is temporal and earthly but the other is heavenly and eternal. A “church birth” opens up the vision and goals of that church but a Kingdom conversion opens up to the vision and goals of the Kingdom. While a “church conversion” relates us to a certain church, the whole experience may be totally irrelevant in the Kingdom. In a “church conversion” we are subject to the church and it systems of government. With a Kingdom conversion we are subject to its demands, its requirements and its governments. The churches requirements are insignificant and may be irrelevant in eternity.
When the church is actually pressing its way into the Kingdom, most of these “church systems” become irrelevant. However, when the church presses her way into the Kingdom, the church will become significant and relevant with the Kingdom’s relevancy and significance. The church will at last find itself when it at last loses itself in the total significancy of the Kingdom. If it saves itself, it will lose itself as a valid force in the earth.
The Kingdom is really not occupied with the common things that divide churches, societies, politics, cultures and religious systems. Why? It supercedes all of them and raises them to a higher dimension. It doesn’t eliminate these things but elevates them to a level above the present systems of shallow human efforts.
In the present age, the church moves from one relativism to another without realizing they
are wandering in this wilderness of relativism and never enter into the absolutes of the Kingdom of God. The present relativism called the “apostolic” or the “prophetic” is another example. These “titles and positions” only have validity in the degree they relate to God’s internal government in each person. The “prophet” that has no inner life or is “lawless in the inner man” has no valid ministry in the Kingdom, even if someone has assigned him that name.
The orgy of titles and positions and orders and degrees emphasizes the point of relativism among carnal / unspiritual men looking for a pecking order. Now we have those who call themselves “Apostles” because they want to identify themselves as different or above the “believers” to whom they “minister.” [ become the benefactors]
However, when the “apostles” assemble themselves together they suddenly become equals. The natural / unspiritual man cannot submit to that humiliation so now there must be labels among the “apostles.” In this situation there should be 1 star apostles, 2 star apostles and so on up to 5 star apostles. Among “Generals” there still must be the orders to distinguish between the 1 star and the 5 star rank.
Mat 23:8 "But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 "And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 "And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 "But the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 "And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
It is ignorant to separate these statements by Jesus from the Divine Order He was preaching. If we paraphrased this we could say; Look don’t get caught in titles and positions because all those things are relative and just relate us to temporal things of earth. These carnal things will deceive you away from the absolutes of the Kingdom. What if you achieve all the titles and exalt yourself above others and by that shut yourself off from the Kingdom? This is a very serious mistake that can affect your eternity.
Mat 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Many today make being born again the central issue in the church. They call this salvation. However, these valid experiences of being born again, water baptized and receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit are all real but still they are only relative until they lead us into the Kingdom. They only have genuine validity in the degree that they relate us to the Kingdom of God which is God’s absolute way into His eternal purpose.
Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Being Born again, Water Baptized and receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit are all relative and are valid WHEN they lead us into the Kingdom Dimension.
Man appears to be better informed today than in any other time in history but still ignorant of the only thing that really matters. That is the Kingdom of God. Why? Because it is the Kingdom of God that relates us to God and also to His Eternal Purpose. Of course “salvation” relates us to the Kingdom. Many other foundational experiences relate us the Kingdom of God also. The born again experience brings us into sight of the Kingdom but like Moses, that was permitted to ascend Mt. Nebo and “SEE” Canaan, they are not yet permitted to enter.
While being “born again” is absolutely essential to come within sight of the Kingdom, being born again is NOT the central issue. The central issue is entering the Kingdom, experientially. Growing within the Kingdom then becomes another issue. However, focusing upon serious growth messages relating to the Kingdom among believers who are not yet under the government of the Kingdom is a waste of time. Teaching believers about the Divine Order of the Kingdom when they have not yet surrendered to the Government of the Kingdom is popular but is a waste of time. It is for this reason that the consecration offering should become experiential and part of our preparation for the Government of the Kingdom. Those who are afraid of total surrender to the will of God are not candidates for the Kingdom Government of God.
Because the Kingdom of God has been established in scripture as the central issue and the central focus of Jesus’ own ministry, we may wonder why the church has become hopelessly confused about its central and unique message. The church has focused upon about every other thing EXCEPT the Kingdom.
The church seems to standing in some “half light” or twilight. They obviously are standing between the two kingdoms; the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness. Therefore, they stand in half light and half darkness. It seems obvious that the Kingdom is NOT revealed in half light. Changing from one kingdom to another is of primary importance if we anticipate becoming ministers of LIGHT. We would all have difficulty listening to some one who announces that he is a minister of “half light.” We would ignore anyone who claimed he was a minister of a confused New Covenant.
The Kingdom of God is that one absolute that is worth living for or worth dying for. The Kingdom is NOT success oriented but character oriented. Some of the most successful people in the world system are the most unhappy and bored people there are. Many are desperately unhappy and demonstrate their frustration in private life and on television. However, we discover the same attitude in the church even if it is not made public.
Why Is This Such An Important Issue For Us Who Are In Transition?
John, Paul AND the writer of the Book of Hebrews all say, in one form or another, that God made “ALL THINGS” through Christ and everything was made by Him and “FOR HIM.” They say that God made EVERYTHING and without Him there was not anything made that was made.
In addition to this it should be clear in scripture that our eternal destiny is already predetermined by God, established and set in stone by the One who made all things for Himself. This is non-negotiable. This was established before the world was restored. God is now at work in us to prepare us for our eternal destiny which He has previously chosen for us.
But what if I choose another destiny? There are no other options except to miss our eternal destiny completely. The basis of making our consecration offering is recognizing who God is and surrendering our total being to His choices for us.
It is THEN that God begins to work in us both to will and to do the things that please Him and to develop our inner life to fulfill our eternal destiny in Christ.
Since ALL THINGS were created by Him and FOR HIM it is certain that “all things” are working together for good to bring us to God’s predestined end.
Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; 30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Certainly, those who choose to establish their own plans and choose their own destiny, all become the greatest of all fools. Why? Because they neither know God or understand His purpose for mankind. The Immutable God establishes an immutable Kingdom to govern His immutable purpose.
immutable >adjective unchanging or unchangeable.
Therefore, the first priority is to adjust our goals and thinking to God’s eternal destiny that He has predestined for us.
Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Eph 1:11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
First Revelation; Everything is designed to function in God’s predestined way and it is designed to FAIL in any other way.
Second Revelation; God’s eternal destiny is built into the DNA and the CELLS of everything that He created and He created everything that was created.
Third Revelation; When we press toward God’s eternal destiny we find everything working with us.
Fourth Revelation; When we press toward any other destiny we are fighting against our DNA and against creation.
Fifth Revelation; The Christian Destiny is the ONLY logical destiny to choose because it is synonymous with the Kingdom destiny.
Sixth Revelation; No other destiny is acceptable to God except what He established by His Sovereignty.
Seventh Revelation; We are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus!
These few things become the working understanding for much of the Kingdom teaching. The Kingdom IS God’s absolute.
absolute >adjective 1 not qualified or diminished by any other; total. 2 having unlimited power: 3 without mixture. 4 not relative or comparative: absolute in its principles. 5 independent of any other 6 viewed without relation to other things. 6 unaffected by other things,
We sometimes make the mistake of comparing the Kingdom of God to some earthly kingdom but there is NOTHING on earth even similar to the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t relate to ANYTHING else and NOTHING can be compared to it. Why? Because it is absolute and totally unique in itself and unlike anything on earth. Everything that was created is relevant within the Kingdom and irrelevant outside the Kingdom. Everything was made BY HIM and FOR HIM, therefore, everything was created FOR the Kingdom.
We are hearing more and more messages about the Kingdom now but many are based upon some kind of idealism which contains more hype than realism. This is probably because no one wants to offend the casual believer with an absolute. Therefore, it is presented as an idealism rather than as an absolute realism. A Kingdom that is “doctrinal” is not offensive. The offense comes when the Kingdom is shared as a real inward experience. The Kingdom of God becoming flesh in us offends many believers the same way the Word becoming flesh in us, experientially, offends the basic casual believer. It is the “inward Kingdom” that changes man from what he is to what he must become to inherit the Kingdom. It is cause AND effect!
The demands of Matthew 5-6 &7 seems like an impossible idealism to all who recognize Christianity only by outward things. However, to the new inner man the Kingdom is ultimate realism. We hear those preaching the Kingdom message revolving a higher moral code, a higher life and greater demands than the Old Covenant Law. This puts impossible demands upon the natural man and guarantees his frustration and failure.
The Kingdom MUST begin with a radically changed inner man who is morally able to live a much higher LIFE because of the Higher Life that is in him! Trying to live the higher Life of the Kingdom by our former natural life [psuche] repeats the frustration of Romans 7. You may want to, but you can’t!
God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Without some advancement towards perfection by a radical change in the inner man [a real transformation] the demands of the Kingdom become an impossible idealism { not realistic }that the natural man is not equipped to attain.
When sin is preached as “normal” in the church and continuous forgiveness is the custom, and that “a totally messed up church” will still go to heaven because God loves everyone, misses the very point presented by the Kingdom demands. Sin in the church is NOT normal. Otherwise we could preach “Let us continue in sin that grace may increase.” While sin is the only possibility in the old creation it MUST be overcome by the New Creation. Old creation believers who are still “messed up” can still be candidates for the Kingdom of God. However, the Kingdom DEMANDS a conversion to a higher realm of Life! Those who think that the thief on the cross is seated in the Kingdom are holding on to a fantasy. He is a forgiven thief but not a transformed thief.
Many people today are “challenged” by the Kingdom teaching but not enough to be transformed by the Kingdom itself. They are “challenged” but not enough to build their life into the Kingdom or to live under its Government.
The selfish and self-centered in the church become parasites upon the church and suck the life out of it. They want everything to center upon them and their ideas. They still have many unredeemed areas in their life but they do “enough good” in the church system to hide the real evil in their hearts. They love the message that ALL God’s people are “messed up” but God loves them just like they are. Why? Because this message doesn’t demand change in the outer man OR the inner man. They need to be told the truth that they are living AGAINST their predestined goal and against God’s created design that is built into the DNA and the CELLS of everything that He created.
The disturbing fact is that God puts these people in the church to reveal areas in our life that are not yet redeemed. It is really the unselfish, honest, pure and sanctified in the church that hold it together and moving forward into God’s purpose.
If sin was natural / normal in the church why would it still lead to death. If the “messed up people” in the church suck the Life out of it and pervert the purpose of God for the church to be Holy and blameless and without spot or wrinkle, why would we think that is normal? Sin, failure, and carnality is against our created design to fulfill God’s Eternal Purpose. Our new inner man has been formatted to live the Kingdom way! That is with creation instead of against it. All the good in the world is pro-life and ALL the bad in the world is pro-death. However, all the good we do cannot give us the Life we need to fulfill God’s purpose and bring joy to His heart.
Every demand or restriction in the Kingdom is designed to reveal a defect in us or to deliver us of something that will prevent us from overcoming in the Kingdom way! The Kingdom way will eventually deliver us from the partial so we can go on to fulness. The Kingdom Laws and the Divine Order will stop us in one direction so we can advance in the eternal direction. The Kingdom Laws are the ultimate freedom from the common carnality seen universally.
It is my opinion that the church became irrelevant when it lost the relevancy of the Kingdom as personal experience. When the church made itself central, it lost its proper position within the Kingdom Government of God. When the church established its own laws and its own order and its own leaders and its own programs, it lost the Divine Order and became irrelevant! To regain relevancy it must now come under the absolute relevancy and order of the Kingdom government of God. It must regain the Life, purpose, obedience, order and attitude of the Government of God.
It appears that the church gradually lost the priority of the Kingdom and must gradually regain the priority of this experience in the Divine Order.
Mar 4:26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27 and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows--how, he himself does not know. 28 "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. 29 "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
The Kingdom is manifest “Gradually”, AFTER the seed is cast into good soil. First the blade, then the ear, then the mature grain and then the harvest. It seems obvious that the harvest is not designed for the blade or the head. It also seems obvious that if we sow NO KINGDOM SEED there will be NO Kingdom harvest.
Mar 4:30 And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? 31 "It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE."
Waiting for the Kingdom tree to grow into fulness is the most difficult part of the gospel of the Kingdom. We can spend a lifetime waiting and see very little growth. A Kingdom Faith is essential to patiently continue in this gospel. Those who only want to see quick results will create a different gospel that builds with wood, hay and straw. To build with the Kingdom material of silver, gold and precious stones is much too costly and certainly too slow for the impatient. The futility of the gospel of “say these words after me” is seldom recognized outside the absolutes of the Kingdom. This shallow and irrelevant “gospel” has just produced a shallow and irrelevant church that is at very best just “lukewarm” and destined to be vomited out of His body.
It is the Kingdom, alone, that is God’s divine order and can NEVER be replaced by any church order or other human and unworkable order designed by man. If we really expected to see this “Divine Order” manifested on the earth we could identify it as “Christlikeness Manifested.” He lived and manifested the Kingdom as incarnate reality. The Kingdom on earth is designed to be a “Clone” of the Kingdom in Heaven. Any modification of that plan is unauthorized. My theory is this; If the Kingdom is an actual reality WITHIN US it can be manifested BY US. If it cannot be manifested on earth then it is just another doctrine to be taught but not a reality that can be lived and demonstrated.
What makes heaven to be heaven is Christlikeness lived, manifested and demonstrated. For the church to come to His measure, stature, fulness and without spot or wrinkle is to become “CHRISTLIKE.” Hell is the opposite of this Kingdom Standard.
Coming to “Perfection” is synonymous with growing to “Christlikeness.” While this is just another doctrine in the church and may be accepted as true, biblically, it may not be true in us or even be accepted as a possibility. My theory is this; Outside of the Kingdom Government of God as present reality, Christian Perfection can only be seen as a future idealism and not a current possibility. It IS the Internal, Inner Kingdom that “presses us” toward “Christlikeness.”
Pressing our way into the Kingdom is not just so our physical needs can be added to us in this life but so the our “eternal needs” can be added to us for the absolutes of Eternity. Those who only see themselves as “insignificant in this life” can soon become “significant” with the inner significance of the Kingdom of God as present reality.
Some persons who will never become significant in this world can find eternal significance when God says” This is My good and faithful servant! Now enter into all that you have been developed and prepared for. Now be seated IN My throne”